Child of Prophecy
by Kasek
Summary: During the fight with Mizuki, something within Naruto snaps. Next thing he knows, Mizuki's dead and Iruka's telling him he has a doujutsu of some sort. What will happen from here on out? Rinnegan fic. NaruHina. Canceled, rewrite called Eye of Samsara.
1. Chapter 1

**Kasek:** There are only so many Rinnegan fics that I can find, and it astounds me how many of them are poorly written. So... here we are.

I have up to chapter 3 already written out, so expect this fic to get at least that far before dying out.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

--

Naruto growled in rage at his former sensei. "Don't you dare touch Iruka-sensei! I'll return everything you've done to us a thousand-fold!"

Mizuki sneered. "Go ahead, Youko! Give me your best shot, I'll kill the both of you!"

At that moment, something within Naruto snapped, and he lost consciousness.

--

Mizuki's eyes widened when Naruto's eyes visibly changed- they were now grey, with an extremely small pupil, and numerous black rings that surrounded the pupil, growing larger with the distance from the pupil. Naruto's expression seemed to be blank as he ran through several hand seals. "Wood Style: Wood Prison jutsu!"

Iruka's eyes widened. Did he hear right? Wood Style?!

Mizuki smirked at the dead-last's stupidity.. "Hah! There's no way someone like you can use-" He stopped when he felt something touch his legs. His intelligent response was "Huh?" He looked at his leg, and he saw that there were tree roots grabbing his feet, and it looked like his body was turning into wood- already it was up to his knees. "Damn you, Kyuubi no Youko! Using our Shodaime's precious Wood Style jutsu! You make a mockery of all of Konoha!"

Naruto's face remained impassive. "You have no right to talk about Konoha, traitor." Soon, all but Mizuki's face had turned into wood- except for where his heart was. Naruto walked up to him, and after another few handseals, several shoots of bamboo shot up from the ground, their tops cut off and sharpened to a point as they were in classic pitfall traps. Naruto grabbed one and kicked at the bottom, snapping it in two, and pointed it at the exposed part of Mizuki's chest armor. "Die..."

--

Naruto blinked his eyes rapidly. What had just happened? He realized he was holding something hard in his hands. He looked at it, and was surprised that he could see... could that possibly be chakra? It looked like yellow flames coursing throughout his body, and some of it was extended into... what looked to be a shoot of bamboo in his hands. He looked at the end of it, and was shocked to see that there was blood flowing down the bamboo. He let go of it, but it still remained stuck into... Naruto looked at it, and was surprised to see that it was Mizuki, apparently turned into a tree somehow... except for his face and where he had been stabbed. Naruto took a step back. "Did... I....?"

His knees failed him, and he fell onto his rear. "What... happened... did I really..."

He felt a hand on his shoulder, and he looked up to see his sensei, Iruka, staring into his eyes. "N-Naruto... are you alright?"

Naruto gulped. "I... I don't know... I blacked out, and then... I find myself stabbing Mizuki... Kami, I didn't mean to kill him, I..."

Iruka forced a smile. "You said you blacked out... that means you had no control over what happened... besides, he was a traitor who was planning on killing us both, I doubt you'll be punished for it... come on, we'll go back to the village and explain everything..."

The young boy nodded, but couldn't help but stare at his sensei's body-like his own, he could see the chakra inside of his sensei. "I-Iruka-sensei... is there anything different about my eyes?"

Said sensei gulped. ".....yes, Naruto, there is. I think you just activated some sort of doujutsu..."

Naruto tilted his head. "Doujutsu?"

The scar-faced chunin nodded. "Like the Sharingan or the Byakugan... we've studied this in class, Naruto, they're jutsu that affect the eyes. They're all kekkei genkai, though... I wonder where you got it..."

The blond nodded in understanding. "I see... so what do my eyes look like?"

After a moment of deciding how to break it to him, Iruka reached into one of the pockets of his armor and pulled out a long, thin mirror and handed it to Naruto. The orphan boy stared into it for some time before bursting into a grin. "Hehe... they look kinda cool. I kinda miss my old blue eyes, though..."

Iruka shrugged. "Most doujutsu can be turned off... though since you seem to be using it without giving it thought, I don't think that's the case here. Come on, Naruto, we need to get you to the Hokage."

--

Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Sandaime Hokage, rubbed his forehead as he felt the headache come on. He had seen what Naruto had done through his crystal ball- he had activated a doujutsu, which he had a sneaking suspicion as to what it was, and he also had used the Shodaime Hokage's Wood Style jutsu. Though he couldn't hear what had been said, he could read lips, and apparently Naruto had blacked out during his killing of his former sensei.

He sighed as he leaned back in his chair. If his suspicion was right about that doujutsu... Naruto could very well accomplish his dream of becoming Hokage. But he couldn't help but wonder if the Kyuubi no Youko had any part to play in all of this...

--

**Kasek: **Naruto does NOT have two kekkei genkai. It is said that the user of the Rinnegan can use _every_ type of jutsu in existence. So, when Naruto blacked out and accessed whatever collective unconscious he did, he was able to use Wood Style, however briefly. Time will tell if he's ever able to use it again.

Also, expect to see Naruto accessing said collective unconscious again soon. It's going to be important to the story.

I'm gonna be more active in my attempts at NaruHina in this story than I am with others.

!-- page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } --

Lastly, I sacrificed a part of my soul just to bring you that one curse word. I hope you're happy. I really couldn't think of a word that would fit better, so I decided "What the heck?" and used it (after spending a couple of minutes forcing myself to type it out). So yeah, don't expect it to happen very often.


	2. Chapter 2

**Kasek: **Yeah, a chapter 2! I know, crazy, huh? I don't seem the type to continue anything.

Note: Edited the Ebisu... 'battle'.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

--

Naruto was surprised to see how well the old man had taken the news. He was proud of Naruto for handling the fact that he had killed someone so well, and had actually handed the boy a hitai-ite, officially making him a shinobi of Konoha. He had told the boy to go get some rest and to get his official registration photo taken the next day.

The photo itself was no big deal- he was tempted to wear sunglasses, but decided that it would be best for him to show his eyes for the official picture, though he would wear the sunglasses afterwards. He'd also removed his signature goggles- they would seem redundant with the sunglasses, after all.

He had gotten into a minor fight with the photographer, insisting that his eyes really did look like the way they did. Afterwards, he had taken it to the Hokage for approval, which he got. Before he could even get up from his chair, however, a boy younger than Naruto burst into the room, shuriken in hand, and had demanded that the Hokage- or 'Old Geezer' as he called him- do battle with him. The boy then proceeded to trip on his overtly long scarf.

"Oww! Darn it, who set a trap there?!"

A man wearing blue clothes and sunglasses appeared in the doorway. "Are you alright? ...and there are no traps in this room!"

The boy looked around and glared at Naruto, and was even more irritated when he couldn't see Naruto's eyes behind his round sunglasses. "You're the one who set that trap, aren't you?"

Naruto's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. He walked over to the boy and grabbed the front of his scarf, lifting him into the air. "You tripped yourself, brat!"

The man who had come in after the boy pointed frantically to the Hokage. "Let him go, Naruto! That's the Hokage's grandson!"

The boy sneered. "Go ahead! Punch me, I dare ya!" He growled on the inside. _Pft, he's just like everybody else... once they find out who I am, they don't dare lay a hand on me..._

He was promptly proven wrong when Naruto slammed his fist down onto the boy's head. "Like I care one bit!"

--

Naruto was trying to mind his own business, but... the darn brat was following him! He immediately turned around, and noted that the boy had hidden behind a cloth cover painted to appear as a fence, and was leaning against such a fence. Unfortunately for the boy, he had it angled wrong. It didn't help that Naruto could see his chakra. "Stop following me, darn it!"

Said boy took down his cover, smirking. "So, you're as good as the rumors say... I have a deal for you! You become my boss, and you teach me the Sexy jutsu that you defeated my gramps with!"

And so it happened. Naruto did his best to teach the boy his special Sexy jutsu, which was really a glorified Transformation jutsu. After the first couple of tries- and failures- Naruto was getting a bit frustrated. "No! Slenderer, more beautiful! What you're doing is horrendous!" He decided to try something different this time around. He observed the way he molded his own chakra with his eyes, and then observed the way the boy did it, and was not too surprised to see that the boy was molding his chakra all wrong. After that, it was a simple matter of correcting it (though he ignored the boy's question of "How can you tell?")

Later, the two of them were sitting on a log, sipping from soda cans. Naruto glanced at the boy. "So, why are you trying to beat your grandfather?"

The young boy sighed. "Granpa gave me the name Konohamaru, after the village... yet, even though everyone knows the name, nobody calls me that. All they see is the Hokage's grandson. That's why I want the Hokage title for myself."

Naruto closed his eyes, and took off his sunglasses. "Becoming Hokage isn't child's play, you know. It's been eighty years since the Shodaime founded this village, and we've only had three Hokage since then. It's not something a brat can take. If you want it so badly, though..." He opened his eyes, and practically glared at Konohamaru. "...you'll have to beat me first."

To say Konohamaru was entranced by the eyes was an understatement. However, at that moment, the man who had been worried about Konohamaru before appeared behind them. Naruto immediately put his sunglasses back on and turned around, facing the man. He could barely see through the man's own sunglasses, and he could feel his ugly gaze. _Those eyes again... that cold gaze... the same eyes everyone looks down on me with..._

The man smirked. "Come, young master... let us go home, away from this trash..."

Konohamaru would have none of it. "No way, Ebisu! I'm going to defeat my old man and become Hokage, so don't get in my way!"

Ebisu spread his arms wide as he walked towards Konohamaru. "A Hokage must be well-taught in every aspect of being a shinobi... something I can teach you."

The boy wasn't listening, and placed his hands in the ram seal. "Transform! Sexy jutsu!"

Ebisu was stunned at the sight of a naked woman in front of him. He snapped out of it when Konohamaru undid the transformation, and the boy was sorely disappointed the man had not gone flying in a stream of blood. "What, it didn't work?"

Konohamaru yelled when Ebisu grabbed his scarf and began pulling. "What a perverted skill! Being a gentleman, such a thing won't work on me. Hanging out with trash such as this is bound to lower your intelligence! Come, young master, so that we may regain what you have lost today, and begin your short trek to become Hokage!"

The young boy flailed as he struggled against his teacher. "No way! Let me go!"

Naruto grit his teeth as he put his hands into a cross-tiger seal. "Shadow Clone jutsu!" Several clones of Naruto burst into existence around him, each gritting their teeth as the original was. It only took a moment before they all poofed into smoke, and Naruto clutched his head. "Argh!"

Ebisu took a fighting stance. "Oh... so you did learn something from that scroll after all... though, it doesn't look like you can maintain it. Shame..."

The blond's mind immediately went to work. _What the heck just happened? It was like... I could see everything my clones could! That was so weird... and so painful. I'll take it easy with one clone..._

He summoned one clone into existence, and he blinked as his mind tried to process the information. _Okay, this is completely and totally weird. Now to do a variation of what I had planned to do..._

Both Narutos turned into very naked young blond women with Naruto's 'Sexy jutsu', who promptly hugged each other while looking at Ebisu. The clone even went so far as to lick the real Naruto's cheek. Ebisu, after a moment of being stunned, flew backwards with twin streams of blood pouring from his nose, very much signifying that he was, indeed, affected by such a 'perverted skill'.

Naruto smirked as he untransformed and dispersed his clone. "And that's what I call... ummm... the Double-Sexy jutsu!"

Konohamaru was practically crying with excitement. "That was so cool! You defeated Ebisu! Man, you've got to teach me that, and then I'll defeat my granpa, and then..."

He promptly received a bonk to the head from Naruto's fist. "It's not that easy... this is the title of the greatest shinobi in the village. A lot of stuff has happened in my past, and... I almost lost myself. But... I found people who acknowledged me. It was incredibly hard, though... So you better prepare yourself. If you want an incredible title like Hokage, which everyone will acknowledge... there will be no short-cuts."

Konohamaru's eyes widened with adoration. He thought back to when Naruto had shown him his eyes, and then... "Bah... always lecturing me. You're not my boss anymore... we're rivals!"

Naruto smiled. "Hate to burst your bubble, but starting tomorrow I'm a real shinobi. But maybe one day.. we can fight for the title of Hokage. I'll look forward to it... Konohamaru."

--

The next day found Naruto inside the Academy room where all of the Academy graduates had gathered. As he walked down to his usual seat, he was halted by his friend, the pineapple-ponytailed Shikamaru. "Naruto? Didn't you, you know, fail? And what's with the sunglasses?"

Naruto grinned. "Well, I took a much harder optional exam, and I passed that with ease! So here I am! And the sunglasses are a seee-cret!"

Shikamaru let out a sigh of 'troublesome' and went back to laying his head down on the desk in front of him. As Naruto sat down, he looked around the room from behind his sunglasses... and was surprised to see Hyuuga Hinata staring at him. Well, so were many others, but Hinata always seemed the type to avoid him as much as possible. Whenever he so much as looked at her she would look in the other direction.

Maybe she thought he was pretty cool looking with the sunglasses? He always _thought_ that sunglasses automatically made you cool, but he hadn't worn these since the day that he had impersonated Shino. Ah, good times, good times... maybe he would ask her later.

Speaking of girls, Haruno Sakura had come in (apparently after having a race with Yamanaka Ino), and had waltzed right up to him. Naruto blushed as she took in his appearance for a moment. _Maybe she __thinks the sunglasses are cool, too..._

Sadly, his hopes were crushed when she growled. "Move it, Naruto! I want to sit next to Sasuke!"

Naruto muttered under his breath about a 'stupid Uchiha', but he got up and let her in anyways. Afterwards, he glared at the boy from the other side of Sakura. The boy picked up on his thoughts and glanced at him. "What is it, dobe? And why are you wearing those sunglasses, do you think they make you look more like a ninja or something?"

Naruto crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat. "Heh. That's for me to know and you to find out when I kick your butt."

Pretty soon Iruka came into the room, and started explaining to them that they were just rookies and needed to take it easy out there, and that he was proud of them for making it this far. He then explained that they would be put into three man squads with jonin sensei, and that they had attempted to balance the teams. Naruto sighed as he wondered who he would be paired with. Maybe if he was with Shikamaru, Chouji, or Kiba, things might turn out alright...

"Squad Seven will consist of Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke..." Naruto groaned as his head hit the desk. Why him of all people?! "...and Hyuuga Hinata." Naruto sighed as he picked his head back up and glanced towards the Hyuuga girl from behind his sunglasses, noting the distinct thumping sound Sakura's head made when she realized she wouldn't be with 'her' Sasuke. Hinata was looking in his direction, blushing. The question was, was she looking at him or at the Uchiha? He really should ask her if she thought he looked cool with the sunglasses... He was so busy with the thought that he forgot to complain about being on the same squad as Sasuke.

Apparently, though, Sakura was thinking along those same lines. "Why are people like Naruto and Hinata on Sasuke's team?!"

Iruka sighed. "By which you mean, 'Why aren't I on his team?' Sasuke has the highest grades in the class, with you in third. We had to balance the teams, so we had the dead last and someone in the middle of the rankings put with Sasuke."

As she cursed her own intelligence, Iruka continued. "Squad Eight will consist of Aburame Shino, Haruno Sakura, and Nara Shikamaru." Sakura groaned again. _Bug boy and the lazy bum?! Great... my life is ruined... _

_  
_"Squad Nine is still in circulation. Squad Ten will consist of Akimichi Chouji, Inuzuka Kiba, and Yamanaka Ino." This girl, too, groaned. _Just. Great. The dog boy and the fatty. I'm in just as bad a position as Sakura..._

Iruka just shook his head as he looked at Sakura and Ino's misery. "Alright then, this afternoon we'll introduce your jonin sensei. Until then, take a break."

--

Naruto sighed as he sat on the roof of a building, snacking on some chips. "There's nothing to do... maybe I should track her down and talk to her? But who knows where she's gone..." He sighed, and fell onto his back and looked behind him. He was surprised to see a chakra signature hiding behind the small cube of building that stuck up from the roof, with a door that led downstairs. He slowly got up and walked over to it, and peeked his head around the corner. He wasn't too surprised to see that it was the very girl he had been thinking about. She had her eyes closed, and was whispering something to herself. "Hinata? What are you doing here?"

Hinata's eyes opened in horror, and she slowly turned her head to face the boy. "H-hello, Naruto... I was, ah, um..."

Naruto, being the idiot he was, opened his big mouth. "You wouldn't happen to be suddenly attracted to me due to my sunglasses, would you?" Hinata's response was to promptly turn dark red in the face and faint. "Eh?! Hinata?!"

--

After a while, Hinata slowly began to awake. "Ugh... what..."

Naruto grinned upon seeing her wake. "Oh good, you're up! I was worried I'd have to take you to the hospital or something. They'd probably get mad at me for carrying a girl all the way there..."

She blushed as she sat up, and observed Naruto's face. She looked directly at where his eyes would be without the sunglasses, and imagined what they looked like. It had only been a few days since she had last seen them, but... it felt like she would never get to see them again.

Naruto tilted his head in confusion when he noticed the sad look in her eyes. "Eh? What's wrong?"

She averted her eyes. "N-nothing..."

He shrugged, and sat down next to her. "...sorry about asking that. I meant to phrase it differently, but... it just kinda slipped out, you know?" She nodded, blushing at the memory. "Anyways... what I _meant_ to ask was... do you think... I look cool with these?"

She smiled a little bit. "I guess so... but..."

Naruto blinked as he looked at her. "But...?"

Hinata blushed as she looked into his sunglasses. "...your regular eyes are cool, too."

It was Naruto's turn to blush. He broke eye contact and looked straight ahead for a moment. He put his right hand up to the glasses, and took them off, but he kept his eyes closed. "...Hinata. I'm sorry to disappoint, but... no one will ever be seeing those eyes again." He opened his eyes and faced her, causing her to gasp in shock.

"Y-your eyes... what..."

Naruto sighed as he broke eye contact again and stared off into space. "...the night of the graduation exam... long story short, somebody betrayed the village, and attacked me and Iruka-sensei. I got mad when he injured Iruka-sensei, and then... I blacked out. When I awoke, it was to find myself holding a spear that had pierced the man's heart. Iruka took out a mirror, and showed me my eyes, which had changed... into this." Hinata blushed. Why was he sharing something so personal with her? He looked back at her, and this time his eyes seemed... warm. "You're my teammate now, so it wouldn't do for me to keep something like this from you..."

Hinata nodded in understanding. "Do they... do anything?"

He nodded back. "I can see chakra with them... and that's about all they do, as far as I can tell. I still have no idea if my killing that man had anything to do with these eyes... but... recently... I've been having these weird dreams. Visions of people using different jutsu... it's weird. I can remember the seals and how the chakra flowed within those people so well... I actually tried one out yesterday, and it worked... so I continued practicing it, so now I can use it without seals. Actually... my chakra control seems to have gotten a lot better since I got these eyes... I wonder if I can do a decent clone now."

Hinata smiled as Naruto rambled. Just being able to talk to him had been a dream of hers, and now that it had come true, she didn't care for much else.

--

Hiruzen exhaled into his pipe as he led the grey-haired man around Naruto's apartment. The man, who was wearing his hitai-ite at an angle that covered his left eye, and was also wearing a mask that covered his face up to just below his eyes, sighed as he picked up the milk carton Naruto had left out. "So, this is where Naruto lives, eh?"

The Hokage nodded. "Naruto isn't very smart... I thought it best to give him to you. I should warn you though... he may be a bit of a handful with his new doujutsu."

The man raised his visible eyebrow. "The boy has a doujutsu? Then that makes all four of us... what's his?"

Hiruzen's eyes narrowed. "I believe it to be... the Rinnegan."

**Kasek: **Yeah, I used this exact same squad formation in Kitsu Kitsu no Mi... but hey, I changed the others up too! I kinda did it for the sake of not having the exact same squads as in my other fic, so I hope it doesn't turn out bad :X I tried to put the students with who seemed to be a proper teacher. The intelligent Shino, Sakura, and Shikamaru get Kurenai, while the more combat-oriented Kiba and Chouji get Asuma. And Ino... meh, I might do something with her. I very much like the concept of swordswoman Ino.

Also, here is Naruto accessing the collective unconscious once more. This is what I theorize being Pain's way of getting his hands on so many unique jutsu, or how the original Sage of Six Paths invented ninjutsu- the Rinnegan gives them access to some heavenly database. Don't think I'll give Naruto access to _Shinra Tensei_ quite yet though, if at all.

Also also, this was going to be two separate chapters but I thought that just the Konohamaru part was too short so I added the other scenes so it would be longer.

Also times three, I pulled the sunglasses-coming-off thing twice. Again, this was gonna be two separate chapters...

WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT ACTUAL NARUHINA. I actually delivered on it for once! All of my other stories lack NaruHina despite promising it, but not this one! MWAHAHA -cough-


	3. Chapter 3

**Kasek: **Here's chapter 3! And I have chapter 4 in the wings, ready for posting when I start writing chapter 6 (working on chapter 5).

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

Naruto peered into the corridor, looked both ways, and retracted his head. "Man, this stinks... even Iruka-sensei's gone, and our jonin-sensei's not here yet!" Frustrated, he went over to Iruka's desk and dragged the chair over to the door. After that, he went and grabbed an eraser from the chalkboard and wedged it in the doorway by standing on top of the chair.

Hinata looked at the eraser as Naruto stepped down. "N-not that I mind, but... won't our sensei be mad that you pulled that?"

The blond crossed his arms in annoyance. "Well, this'll teach him to be on time for once!"

Sasuke, who was sitting on the far side of the room, rolled his eyes. "Like a jonin's going to fall for that..."

Right on cue, a grey-haired man opened the door and peeked his head into the room, causing the eraser to fall on top of his head and release much of its dust into the air as it bounced off him and onto the floor. Naruto raised an eyebrow at the man's appearance- his hitai-ite covered his left eye, and he had a mask that covered his face below the eyes. He stood up straight and put his hand to his chin. "How to put this... my first impression of you guys.... I hate you. Meet me on the roof in five."

As he walked away, Naruto crossed his arms and let out a snort. "Geez, guy didn't even seem phased by it..."

--

Naruto stared at the man as he leaned against the railing of the roof. He could see the man's chakra, and he had an unusual amount of it active in his left eye- indicating that he did, indeed, have an eye there, just an unusual one. There was also the fact that his chakra was _white_. He didn't know if that was particularly unusual, just that most people he'd seen so far had yellow chakra. He'd have to ask about it later. For now, the man was talking.

"Alright then, let's start with... introductions."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes in annoyance. "You first."

The man shrugged. "As you wish. My name is Hatake Kakashi. My likes... hmm... how about my dislikes? Nah... My hobbies... no, you're too young for that... and I don't feel like sharing my dream for the future. Now then... from the right."

Naruto realized that this meant him. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I like ramen and those people who care about me. I dislike people who look down on me. My hobbies... I like playing pranks. My dream... is to become Hokage, and have people acknowledge me!" Hinata barely held back her adoration for the boy, and Kakashi merely nodded. _Oh... he might be interesting after all_...

"Alright then, next."

Hinata shook her head to help focus. "M-my name is Hyuuga Hinata. I like... people who work hard for their dreams. I dislike people who... label others as failures. My dream... is to become a worthy heiress for my clan, and to..." She drifted off for a moment. "...Hobbies... pressing flowers."

Another nod from the jonin. _These two are interesting... perhaps this group has promise. _"And lastly..."

Sasuke snorted as he folded his hands in front of his face. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I don't like much, and I dislike a lot. My hobbies are training and taking walks. My dream... no, my sole ambition, is to kill a certain man and revive my clan."

The jonin sighed. _Geez... hopefully I can beat it out of him... _"Alright, now that that's over with... we're going to start with our shinobi duties. Tomorrow."

Naruto was on the edge of his makeshift seat on the ground. "What kind of duties?"

Kakashi cast a lazy eye on the boy. "Survival training. Just the four of us."

The blond's reaction was a raised eyebrow. "Didn't we go through enough of that in the Academy?"

The man chuckled, which creeped Naruto out. "Well... this won't be normal training. I think you guys are gonna freak when you hear this... you see... this is a test of sorts that you need to pass to become genin... and only nine people are going to pass."

Naruto's jaw hung, Hinata's eyes widened, while Sasuke's eyes narrowed and he shadowed them with his hands. The jonin's visible eyebrow twitched. "I was expecting more of a reaction..."

His blond student pointed an accusing finger at him. "Then what was the point of graduating, then?!"

He shook his head. "That was only to prove that you deserved a chance of becoming genin. I have the final say in the matter, though. Anyways, tomorrow you have to show all of your shinobi skills, so bring all of your tools. Oh, and don't eat breakfast... you might throw up."

Naruto grimaced. _I can't lose here, darn it! I'm just now starting to increase my skills... if I go back, then I'll probably become the strongest Academy student ever. And that's not a good thing._

Kakashi's eye showed that he was bored- he had possibly done this exact same thing before. He took out a few sheets of paper. "These print-outs have all the details. Good luck!"

--

Naruto found himself in a training field that he knew nobody used. _Alright then, time for me to get to work..._ He summoned three clones, and immediately he had a headache. "Four points of view... well, I've already mastered two and three, so why not?"

--

Naruto growled as his sensei appeared late... hours later then when he had said he would arrive. It was now eleven-fifteen in the morning. "You're late!"

Kakashi had the decency to act ashamed, if but for a second. "Sorry. Anyways..." He took out a small alarm clock that showed the time, placed it on top of a log sticking out of the ground between two other such logs, and pressed a button on the top. "This clock is set for noon... your objective is to steal these two bells from me before then. If you fail to get a bell, you don't get lunch, I tie you to a log, and I eat _my _lunch in front of you."

The Uchiha narrowed his eyes as Naruto widened his. _So, that's why he told us to skip breakfast..._

The jonin continued. "Since there are only two bells, one of you_ will_ fail. And anyone who fails... goes back to the Academy. Understand?" He got three nods. "Good. You can use shuriken and kunai if you want, you won't succeed unless you come at me with intent to kill."

Hinata looked a little scared. "But what if we hurt you...?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, I mean, you couldn't dodge an eraser... and I have some mean shuriken skills."

Kakashi shrugged. "It is the weakest who tend to bark loudest... so, ignoring Mr. Dead-last here, start when I say to. Ready... go!"

All three genin-to-be disappeared into the surrounding forest. Kakashi scratched the back of his head. "So, at least they know how to hide... essential for a shinobi."

His eye widened when he heard the distinct sound of shuriken flying through the air. Lots of them. He turned to the source, and was more than surprised to see a veritable _storm_ of shuriken flying straight towards him. He immediately used a substitution jutsu to replace himself with a log left lying around the training field for that express purpose, and watched it get embedded with many a shuriken from his new hiding spot in a tree. _That many shuriken... he must have used a jutsu. But where did he get his hands on such a thing? The Scroll of Seals? But that's not a kinjutsu..._

He was pulled from his thoughts when he heard the sound of a shuriken coming straight for him. Only... this time, the sound was a lot _deeper_ than it had a right to be. He turned, and his eye widened when he saw that a shuriken about as big as he was was hurtling straight for him. He jumped to the ground, letting the thing embed itself into the trunk of the tree.

Just as he landed, he felt something connect with his chin and send him reeling backwards. He managed to snap his head back, and was surprised to see Naruto in front of him. _That speed... a Body Flicker jutsu? A genin shouldn't know that, either... what's going on here?_

Naruto put his hands into the cross-tiger seal. "Shadow Clone jutsu!" In a moment, he had five clones surrounding him. Naruto smirked- he had spent a lot of time getting used to the multiple fields of vision, and so far he could do three clones flawlessly. Five clones was a bit of a stretch, but he only needed them for a moment. Immediately, two of them 'flickered', and Kakashi barely jumped out of the way as they punched the air where his stomach would be. Another two flickered, and since Kakashi was still in mid-air their kicks landed squarely on his chest. The last one flickered behind him and latched onto his back, locking its arms and legs around his own. In another moment, Naruto was in front of him, holding a bell in his hands. "Tough luck, sensei, you underestimated me. Maybe you should've used that special eye of yours. See ya!" He disappeared, the clones turning into smoke as the dispersed.

Kakashi groaned. He was _never, EVER _going to live this down. The boy was supposed to be the dead-last of his class! His mind registered what Naruto had last said as his left hand almost placed itself over his left eye, covered by his hitai-ite as it was. "How did he... oh, right, Rinnegan..." He looked into the sky above lazily. "I wonder if I can apprentice the boy if his teammates fail... though I would prefer they pass as a team. After all, a team of four doujutsu users is unheard of..."

--

Hinata let out a gasp when she heard someone behind her, and whirled around to find Naruto sitting next to her. She blushed at their proximity. "N-Naruto? What are you...?"

Naruto smiled. "Hey, Hinata, how would you like to get your hands on a bell?"

--

Kakashi wasn't too surprised when he was assaulted by a few more shuriken. He lazily jumped back through the air, and wondered who had thrown them. His eye widened in realization when he heard a near roaring sound, and turned to find himself facing not a storm of shuriken, not a giant shuriken, but _a storm of giant shuriken_. He quickly substituted himself with a log, and observed the destruction as they tore the trees that had been behind him into pieces. He whispered to himself as he watched from his spot on the ground not too far away. "How much chakra does this kid even _have_? No genin should be able to use this many jutsu... or even two of them. Or even be able to combine two jutsus into one. Something's going on here... I wonder if..."

His thoughts were interrupted when he felt somebody trying to sneak up behind him. He whirled around, and saw that it was Hinata. She stiffened when she saw him turn around, causing Kakashi to smirk underneath his mask. "Oh ho... you two wouldn't happen to be in on this together now, would you?"

Hinata blushed. "I..."

It was all the distraction Naruto wanted to flicker besides Kakashi and attempt to grab the bells again. Unfortunately, Kakashi wasn't _that_ distracted. He grabbed the blond's right hand before it grasped the bell. "Uh-uh-uh... I don't think so Naruto. I let you get one bell, I'm not letting you get a second, even if it is for Hinata's sake."

Naruto grinned. "Is that so?" He pulled back his left fist, and attempted to punch Kakashi in the face, which was promptly blocked with his right arm. He then brought his right leg forward, intent on kicking Kakashi between the legs. His sensei raised his right leg to block, catching it right at the ankle. Naruto's grin widened as he hopped into the air with his left foot and then used Kakashi's arm as a leverage point to kick Kakashi in the back of his left knee, causing him to crumple to the ground from the unexpected shift in weight distribution, as well as let go of Naruto. He groaned as he got up as quickly as he could, but it was too late- Naruto had somehow gotten up much faster and run off with the bell. Hinata had disappeared as well.

Sasuke flinched when he heard his sensei start swearing his head off. He had barely seen what had happened- Naruto had been a blur of motion the moment Kakashi had let go of him. It must've been a jutsu of some sort... he frowned. There was no way he was going to fail this test. Even if he had to resort to something... unsightly.

--

Kakashi finally managed to track down Naruto, and before the boy could even blink he was tied up with a loop of rope and pushed to the ground. Kakashi's eyebrow twitched as he tried- and failed- to keep a level head. "So, _Naruto_, you think you can get away with taking two bells from me? The joke's on you, there's no rule that says I can't take them back from you."

Naruto grinned as he forced his face from the ground. "I say the joke's on _you_, Kakashi-sensei... I gave my bell to Hinata."

His sensei's eyebrow twitched even more. "_What?_"

The blond nodded. "I gave her the first bell I got, and then when I grabbed the second one I knew you'd come after me with a vengeance, so I gave that one to Hinata too in case we meet up again after this."

Kakashi narrowed his eye even further. "You think you're so smart... what makes you think I won't track down Hinata and take the bells from her?"

The boy tried the shrug from his position, though it was a little hard. "I dunno. Maybe the fact that I could track her down far better than you could, so if you let me go then I would reach her before you did and get my bell back, thus passing the test."

Kakashi pushed a little harder than necessary against Naruto. "Oh, is this a hint of the abilities of your Rinnegan?"

Naruto shrugged again. "That's what it's called? I dunno, I just activated it, it's not like those stupid jutsu dreams tell me the names of jutsu."

The jonin's eyebrow stopped twitching, and merely raised. "Jutsu... dreams?"

His blond student sighed. "Oops, shouldn't have let that slip... ah well, too late now. Yeah, that's how I learned that high-speed movement jutsu and those shuriken jutsu, I got them from dreams. Weird, right?"

He nodded. "Definitely... I hope someone isn't messing with your mind... at any rate, I guess we're in a deadlock now. Either let you go and have two students, or keep you here and only deal with one. Decisions, decisions... I think I'll run the risk of letting you go. Who knows, I really might be able to get to Hinata before you can and take both bells."

He sliced the rope with a kunai and disappeared as fast as possible, leaving Naruto to compose himself and try to find Hinata.

--

Kakashi was _not_ amused when he found Hinata in Naruto's arms, barely conscious and badly beaten. Naruto glanced up at him for a moment before looking back at Hinata. "The bells are... gone." The grey-haired jonin sighed as the alarm rang, alerting them that the test was over.

"This is one mess I really don't want to have to deal with..."

--

He watched his students carefully. Hinata was the only one tied up, though it hurt him to do so- she had done nothing to earn her teammate's wrath, and the ropes aggravated some of her bruises. Naruto had earned not being tied up, and technically Sasuke had the bells. He sighed. "I honestly don't know what to do with you guys... I'll be frank with you- the whole point of the test was to see if you three would be willing to work together to get the bells. You were never meant to get the bells, let alone on your own. I suppose it's my fault that I didn't say you couldn't attack each other for them, seeing as how I seriously underestimated Naruto.

"On one hand, Naruto and Hinata did work together with that second bell... Hinata attempted to distract me while Naruto tried to grab the bell. Naruto even gave both bells to Hinata to keep them away from me. On the other hand, I have Sasuke, who _attacked his own teammate_ to get a bell. That is the complete opposite of how to pass the test. On a third hand that I don't have, Naruto and Hinata, either willingly or unknowingly, left Sasuke out of the loop, tempting him to attack her in the first place. Decisions, decisions..."

Naruto gulped. Well, he and Hinata had been willing to work together, so shouldn't at least they pass? Though, on the other hand, their was the fact that Sasuke had the bells, so officially he should be the only one to pass.

Kakashi was thinking to himself as he watched them squirm. _Well, nobody's ever gotten their hands on the bells before... and it's not like there haven't been teams before with two friends and a loner... _"I can tell I am seriously going to regret doing this, but... you guys pass."

Hinata's eyes widened. "A-all three of us?"

He nodded. "Yes, all three of you. At one point or another you all held a bell... and two of you did work together... and at least _one_ of you has some serious potential. So yeah, I'll work with you guys."

The blond cheered. "Heck yeah! We're officially shinobi now!" He hugged Hinata, causing her to blush and promptly faint. "Eh? Hinata?"

As Sasuke rolled his eyes at the display, Kakashi sighed. "Well, I've got some things to report to the Hokage. So, see ya around!"

The jonin disappeared in a plume of smoke, and Naruto immediately went to work on the knots tying Hinata to the log. After a minute of frustration, he spoke to Sasuke. "Ne, Sasuke, you're good with ropes, right? Can you untie this?" He blinked when he didn't get an answer, and looked around- but Sasuke was gone, as well.

--

Hiruzen sighed. "So, did you learn anything about his Rinnegan?"

Kakashi nodded. "He knows I have a special eye, which could only be viewed with either an ability to see through objects or an ability to see chakra... if I had to guess, I'd say it's the latter. Also... something he told me bothers me... he apparently has dreams where he views jutsu in action, and used those jutsu against me during the test."

"Dreams where he learns jutsu?"

The grey-haired jonin nodded again. "That's what he told me. He used the Body Flicker jutsu, as well as what appeared to be Shuriken Shadow Clone jutsu and the Giant Shuriken jutsu. He even used both at the same time, which ought to take an absurd amount of chakra."

The old man exhaled, smoke billowing from his pipe. "Have Naruto make sure to inform you of every jutsu he learns from these dreams. Also, I want you to work with Naruto on seeing what his eyes can see. I want every detail you discover reported to me. Lastly.... good luck with your doujutsu team, Kakashi."

Kakashi nodded yet again, though this time it was more slowly. "...yes sir."

**Kasek: **So yeah. I was actually tempted to make Pain the one to be teaching Naruto jutsu in his dreams, but I thought that that might be a liiiitle much. Then again, I could always retcon it to say that Naruto was lying about his dreams, or have him start having dreams with him meeting Pain and having him teach Naruto stuff like Shinra Tensei and Human Path's mind reading jutsu. What do you guys say? Pain in Naruto's dreams or not? If not, I might make a separate Rinnegan fic where Naruto activates the Rinnegan at a younger age and takes lessons from Pain, and even give him his own Six Paths.

Comment on the Shadow Clone realization thing: I don't know why that's in there, it's not like Naruto discovers their usefulness in training. I guess it's just to let you know he knows, and at the end I let you know he's working o multiple jutsu.

Also, it's really hard to come up with a new way to do the bell test every time I start a fic.


	4. Chapter 4

**Kasek: **Meh, can't write for chapter 5 right now... stuck on the Gouzu-Meizu fight. Might as well release this now.

For those concerned: there will (well, ought to) be a reference to Sasuke attacking his own teammate later on in the story (there is also a reference to it this chapter, but I'm saying that there will be more to come). I am sad to say, no, he did _not _get punished for it, as Kakashi himself said he didn't really say Sasuke_ couldn't. _Anyways, hope you guys can still enjoy the story with that sour note.

EDIT: I changed this and other chapters to include that Naruto _does_ share sight with his clones. I didn't feel like it at first, but then I realized, what's Naruto going to need an army of clones for in this story? So I got rid of the many for the good of the few, as one could put it.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

**---**

Kakashi sighed as he handed his students three slips of paper. Orders were orders, after all... "Alright you three, I need you to channel your chakra into these pieces of paper, so I can determine your elemental affinities."

Naruto tilted his head. "Elemental affinities? Wuzzat?"

Their jonin-sensei sighed again. It was really hard to believe that _Naruto_ of all people was the chosen wielder of the Rinnegan. "It means what chakra element you will be most attuned to. Say, for Sasuke, being an Uchiha, he's most likely to be attuned to fire, and therefore will be able to use more powerful fire jutsu than somebody not attuned to fire."

Said Uchiha smirked. "I've been able to use fire jutsu for years. I'm pretty sure I'm fire-element."

Kakashi rolled his eye. "It never hurts to double check, Sasuke. Since you're so sure, we'll start with you."

Sasuke nodded, and the paper glowed yellow for a moment with his chakra. After a moment, the paper crinkled, as if someone had crumpled it into a ball and then un-crumpled it. Kakashi gave his unique 'eye-smile'. "Well well, looks like _someone _has a lightning affinity. I happen to be a lightning element myself." He turned to Hinata. "Now then, let's see what the Hyuuga girl has, shall we?"

She gulped, and focused on the task at hand. The paper glowed yellow for a moment before immediately becoming drenched. Kakashi nodded at her. "Ah, water, then. Works pretty well in combination with lightning jutsu. I also happen to have water as a secondary element of mine. Now then..." His eye turned to Naruto. _Time for the moment of truth..._

Naruto seemed to glare at the paper for a moment (it was hard to tell with his sunglasses), and focused his chakra into his hands and into the paper. All eyes widened when it split into five pieces of paper, one of which caught fire, another turned into a fine dust, the third dampened, a fourth crumpled, and the last split into two more pieces of paper, which remained normal pieces of paper. Kakashi's eye betrayed his shock, to say nothing of the other two genin. Naruto looked up at his sensei, hoping to get an answer. "Well? Wuzzat mean?"

The grey-haired jonin narrowed his eye in concentration. "Well... I believe that due to your, uh, uniqueness, you have an affinity for... well, _all_ of the elements. Unheard of, but apparently not impossible."

Sasuke seemed insulted. "_Naruto_? 'Unique'? What makes _him_ so special?

Kakashi gave Naruto a look that said 'Do you want to tell him or should I?' Naruto sighed, and removed his sunglasses yet again, revealing his eyes to both Kakashi and Sasuke for the first time. "I have a doujutsu called the Rinnegan... we're still figuring out how it works, but..."

The Uchiha's eyes were wide with shock, as were Hinata's. Sasuke spoke first. "R-Rinnegan? The doujutsu of the Rikudou Sennin? The power that lets one use any jutsu?"

Kakashi raised his visible eyebrow. "Oh? I didn't think a green genin would know the legend... and from the looks of it both of you know."

Hinata gulped. "I-it is part of my clan's traditions to learn about the Three Great Doujutsu... I d-didn't realize that Naruto's eyes were _those_ eyes, though..."

Sasuke grit his teeth. "So, what, the dobe here's some kind of chosen one, then? You gonna train him to be some great god among shinobi? He's gonna be the village's _favorite_ ninja now, huh? I bet all the jonin in the village will be just _clamoring_ to teach him."

Their cyclopean-eyed sensei sighed. He figured this would happen. "Look, I _have_ been told by the Hokage to teach Naruto as much as I can. That does _not_ mean that I will be ignoring your training, as well. If anything, that means that you two are going to be much better trained than the others in your graduating class, because I'll be teaching you anything that I can teach all three of you, as well as help you with your elemental jutsu and taijutsu skills. Unfortunately, Naruto is apparently capable of learning jutsu rather quickly, so he will still proceed ahead of you. I don't want you to feel bad for it, it's just a fact of life."

The Uchiha growled. "If I had my Sharingan, I bet I could learn jutsu faster than even the dobe here..."

Naruto shrugged. "Have you ever just tried focusing chakra to your eyes?"

Sasuke blinked. "...what?"

The blond nodded. "I've looked in a mirror, and I can tell that I always have a bit of chakra focused in my eyes... so why shouldn't other doujutsu work that way?"

The raven-haired youth growled again. "If it were that simple, don't you think I would've tried that by now?"

Naruto then shrugged again. "It doesn't hurt to try." Sasuke rolled his eyes, but decided to try it anyways. After a moment, Naruto grinned. "Told ya it'd work."

Sasuke's eyes widened in shock when he realized that Naruto's eyes were now glowing a sight yellow. He turned to his sensei, who had some white where his left eye was supposed to be, and who merely nodded. "I... dobe, I don't know whether to hug you or slug you."

The Rinnegan-wielder shivered at the thought. "Can I just settle for you not calling me dobe anymore?"

Sasuke smirked. "Fine... Naruto."

Their sensei 'eye-smiled' again. Sasuke was already on the road to recovery from being a total jerk. Maybe he should try to get the boy to apologize to Hinata sometime... the girl seemed a little more timid than usual when it came to him, though not in the same way she was with Naruto. "Well, now, since we all have our little doujutsu, maybe we can start training? First off: tree climbing!"

Naruto tilted his head. "...say what now?"

--

Training went smoothly for all three of them. It turned out that Hinata had already been well exposed to both the tree-climbing (which turned out meant climbing it by walking straight up the tree using your chakra) and the water-walking (which was walking on top of water using chakra) exercises, and so Kakashi began teaching her how to manipulate water chakra, as it was one of his two chakra affinities. Naruto and Sasuke hadn't been so lucky, so they went straight to work on the tree-climbing, though with their doujutsu's abilities to see chakra they were able to easily master the exercise and move onto water-walking, which Sasuke had a bit more difficulty with than Naruto. After they were finished- which didn't even take the whole day-, Sasuke was taught how to manipulate lightning chakra, though he didn't master it within the day- Kakashi told them at the beginning he would be surprised if they did, as most people took weeks, months even, to learn how to do such things. Naruto turned out to not be most people, as he mastered lightning manipulation within the day, and had made significant progress on water when training for the day was over.

Kakashi was pretty surprised when Naruto had come to him and showed that he could easily create electricity in his hand. It hadn't taken long- an hour, maybe- for the boy to do so. He narrowed his eye in thought. _I had heard that the boy could use a lot of Shadow Clones... I was thinking of maybe accelerating his training with that, but... the kid's a freaking genius when it comes to manipulating chakra. And the Academy reports said he couldn't even make a proper clone... the Rinnegan's the real deal._

--

After training was over, the three children were all about to go on their way when Kakashi pulled Naruto to the side. "Naruto... Sorry, I just need to know for the village's sake. What exactly do you see with your new eyes that you couldn't see before?"

Naruto seemed to put some thought into it. "Well... first off, there's the fact that I can see chakra. Most chakra's yellow, but when we change the elemental nature of it it changes color, and then there's the fact that your chakra is white for some reason."

Kakashi chuckled. "Yes, it's a peculiarity of my family. Anyways, please continue."

The blond nodded. "Anyways, I can see how the chakra flows, and it kinda gets ingrained in my brain, you know? I think that's how I can master jutsu so fast. When I make my clones- like you saw during the test- I share their sight. It's _really_ freaky, but I'm getting used to it. Lastly... there's this big dome around Konoha, with weird symbols on it."

The jonin's eyes widened. He could see the barrier?! "Naruto, that's a barrier that detects when people enter and leave Konoha. Even I can't see it with my... special eye. Don't tell _anybody_ about it, alright?"

Naruto could tell the man was deadly serious. "Y-Yes, sensei!"

Kakashi gave one of his 'eye-smiles'. "Good boy. Now then, you can go off doing whatever you want now, I'm going to go make a report to the Hokage. See ya!" Naruto saw him gather some chakra, and then he was surrounded by smoke. Naruto saw him turn into a streak of light that went off into the distance, and blinked. "That looks like my high-speed jutsu, but with smoke to cover it... what's the point of the smoke though?"

--

Hiruzen's eyes were wide with shock. "The myth that the wielder of the Rinnegan can use any jutsu is true?!"

Kakashi nodded. "At least partly... he's already mastered lightning manipulation, and he's working on water... pretty soon I should have others teach him the other elements as well. I can call in a couple of favors... I still have to see if he can actually combine elements, though..."

The Hokage peered into his cup of coffee, holding it with both hands. "I didn't think that the Rinnegan would turn Naruto into a chakra-wielding genius... and he's learning jutsu on his own, too... teach him genjutsu and taijutsu, and he'll be a force to be reckoned with. Any ideas for a taijutsu style for him?"

The one-eyed man shrugged his shoulders. "The kid's a hard worker, even though it doesn't seem like he stays on any one thing long enough to put a lot of effort into it. I'm thinking of Goken, I've battled Gai enough times to know that style inside and out."

Hiruzen nodded. "I see... And what of Sasuke and Hinata?"

Kakashi chuckled. "Sasuke mastered both the tree-walking and the water-walking exercises fast enough to begin training with lightning chakra manipulation, though as it should be he didn't master _that_ within the day... Hinata had already mastered both exercises due to her training with the Hyuuga, so I set her on working on water chakra manipulation before the guys even finished tree-walking. Both Sasuke and Hinata seem to be prodigies with manipulating their own chakra, though, so with any luck- and their doujutsu- they should be finished within the week. I'll see to giving the three of them genjutsu training soon, especially in dispelling."

Hiruzen nodded again. "I see... and what about Naruto's Rinnegan? What can it see?"

The grey-haired jonin narrowed his eye. "First off, it can see chakra pretty well, though I don't think he can see the chakra circulatory system. He claims that when he sees the way chakra flows, it gets 'ingrained into his brain'. He also says that when he makes Shadow Clones- I think he learned _that_ from the scroll- that he can see whatever they see... Then there's the fact that he can see the barrier around Konoha... I've already told him he's not to tell anybody about it. I haven't tested yet whether or not he can see through genjutsu, like I said we'll be training in that later on. After we're done with individual training, we'll be doing team training. Heaven knows the Uchiha boy needs it."

Old man Sarutobi raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Do tell."

Kakashi gulped- he _really_ did not want to inform the Hokage of this. "Well... back during the bell test... Sasuke kinda sorta... attacked Hinata to get his hands on the bells."

_Crack_. The jonin winced when he saw coffee seeping through the new cracks in the coffee cup. He admired the Hokage's ability to not wince from the pain, though. His Hokage quickly tossed it in the trash can, and took out some napkins and wiped up the mess he had made. He then calmly asked Kakashi, "Explain."

Kakashi sighed. "Well... I really had not expected Naruto to get his hands on a bell... let alone two. But he did. And to keep them away from me, he gave them both to Hinata. Sasuke had trailed him, and not wanting to fail the exam, attacked her and stole the bells."

The younger man did not dare look his sensei's sensei's sensei (great grand-sensei?) in the eye as he contemplated this."I see... have you done anything about this?"

He sighed. "Well... all I've really done is blame myself for not foreseeing such an outcome. However, like I said, I am going to drill teamwork into their heads with a Rasengan."

The Hokage nodded. "I see... on that note, I hope your training isn't going to interfere with your mission duties...?"

The jonin 'eye-smiled'. "Of course not... we only started training after we did our D-Rank for the day, after all. I think I might enter these guys into the next Chunin Exams, at this rate... and we only need eight missions for that. I wonder if I can sneak a C-rank in there...

Hiruzen smirked. "You can talk about doing one of those in a few weeks, after you train some more. If that's all then, you're dismissed."

Kakashi nodded. "Yes, Hokage-sama."

As Kakashi left, Hiruzen turned his chair to face the windows of his office. "I can only hope that this team doesn't turn out like the one I taught... the goofy one, and the power-hungry one... Do not make my mistake, Kakashi..."

**Kasek: **I'm trying not to make Naruto a God-Mode Sue, but he's still Super!Naruto compared to canon (though not compared to Shippuden Naruto... yet).

Sorry about not exploring the 'Sasuke being a total jerk' angle more. He's only going to soften up from here... though it's still going to be a while before he apologizes to Hinata. I want to make that moment memorable.

When I say Naruto's going to learn the same style as Lee and Gai, I do NOT mean he's going to learn how to open the Gates. That would be way too much, and even Kakashi says that that's not the kind of thing you teach genin. Also, he won't be at Lee's level for a while yet, seeing as Lee's been training for a year at this and Naruto's just started. Also, I wonder if I should get Sasuke to join in Naruto's Goken training? Thoughts on this?

Kakashi is drilling his team hard- he would normally never even think of teaching genin how to manipulate elemental chakra, but he wants to be 'fair' to Hinata and Sasuke considering that he has to teach Naruto these things. Sasuke and Hinata have their doujutsu to compensate, though.

Also: Sasuke and the Sharingan... it is _canon_ that Sasuke already possessed the Sharingan by the time he graduated from the Academy. He just didn't know it, is all. If you want me to prove it, I'll look up the chapter where it flashes back to the massacre and it shows young Sasuke's Sharingan.

And that should be it. Make your comments, you might help improve the story, you know the drill.


	5. Chapter 5

**Kasek: **Hahaha~ I finally got chapter 5 of this story finished. I need to find someplace new to start fics other than with Mizuki, it's hard (and depressing) to do the same things over and over again~ If this story doesn't work out I'll try for Shippuuden or something.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the related characters and ideas.**

--

Naruto sighed as he turned over the cat to its owner, who promptly gave the cat a squeeze before paying a desk ninja and leaving. He was not sorry to see them leave- the cat had scratched his face, darn it! Sure, the scratch had healed within a few minutes, but still.

Hiruzen stared at a piece of paper. "Squad Seven... let's see, for your next duty... babysitting, shopping, and gardening..."

The blond growled. "That's it! I'm tired of these lame missions! We've gotten really good, I want a real ninja mission!"

Sasuke nodded. "I agree... we've all made substantial improvements in all areas since we became genin, I think we can handle a simple C-Rank." Hinata merely blushed and looked at the ground.

The elderly Hokage raised an eyebrow at the display. "Oh?"

Iruka, who was sitting next to Hiruzen, got up from his seat and slammed his hands on the desk in front of him. "Naruto! You guys are still technically fresh from the Academy! Everyone starts at the bottom and works their way up!"

Naruto groaned- he noted that Iruka was only getting mad at him and not Sasuke. Even though Iruka knew about his eyes, he still singled out Naruto. "But-! The missions we _do_ get are so horrible! Can't we at least get one that at least allows us to use our shinobi abilities?"

His old teacher was about to object when the Hokage spoke first. "Well... considering the reports I've been getting of your abilities... sure, why not? I'll give you a C-rank. A protection mission."

Iruka was stunned, to say the least. "Ho-Hokage-sama! Surely they can't be _that_ good already, can they?"

Naruto was obviously excited. "Who?! A daimyo, a princess?"

Hiruzen merely smiled. "Send in the client."

A door on the side of the room opened up, and in walked... an old man. Not terribly old, but old enough to be someone's grandfather, which would be pretty old if you were a shinobi and not a civilian. He was fairly tall, and actually a little muscular, with a few scars on his bare arms. He had a beard, and although not long, it more than accounted for the missing hair from his receding hairline. He had on a heavy pack, a towel was hanging off of the back of his neck, a pair of glasses was on his nose, and he had a rope tied around his head, the knot on the far right side of his forehead. Lastly, a detail not to be missed was the sake bottle from which he was drinking. He took one last gulp before observing the team before him. "...the heck? They're a bunch of super brats. Especially the girl... she looks like she couldn't hurt a fly!"

Naruto wanted to slug the man for insulting his teammate (he wouldn't have minded if he insulted Sasuke, as much anyways), but kept himself in check, though he did visibly tense. Kakashi mentally praised the boy for holding himself back. _Looks like my lessons on that area of shinobi life have __worked, as well..._ "Don't worry, I assure you that they are quite capable compared to others who have been in service as long as they have."

The man shrugged. "If you say so... I'm Tazuna, a super bridge-building expert. I expect you guys to protect me while I build a bridge in the Land of Waves."

--

It wasn't long before they were in front of the village gates. Naruto was in the lead of the group, but paused for a moment not far from the gates. Kakashi knew what it probably was- this would be the first time he ever left the barrier. "Come on, Naruto, we need to get moving."

Naruto watched Kakashi walk through the barrier like it was nothing, and he sighed. "Yeah... you're right. Guess I'm just nervous. Can't have the future Hokage being nervous, now can we?"

Tazuna glanced at the boy, and then seemed to stare into his eyes. "You? Hokage? Don't make me laugh."

The blond growled. "Just you wait! Once I'm Hokage, everyone will acknowledge me! Even you!"

Though he may have been drunk, that did not excuse what he said next in Naruto's eyes. "No, I won't. Even if you _did_ become Hokage."

If Kakashi had been able to see Naruto's eyes, he would've seen that the look in them was absolutely _murderous_. "I'll kill you!"

The jonin sighed as he grabbed the back of the boy's jacket. It appeared the boy's patience still had its limits. "No killing the client, Naruto. Unwritten shinobi rule number twenty-three. Now let's get going."

Two figures watched from the nearby foliage. "Psh, genin? All we need to do is take out the jonin in a surprise attack and they're done for."

--

Naruto narrowed his eyes when he saw the puddle in the road farther ahead of them. It was still a long ways off, but Naruto could see even from here that there was chakra in it. He slowed his pace until he was walking next to his sensei. "Kakashi-sensei, there's, uh, _chakra_ coming from that puddle up the road."

Kakashi gave his 'eye-smile'. "Glad to know you're alert, Naruto, though I already knew that it was suspicious. You heard that, right, Hinata, Sasuke? Stay on your guard. Whatever happens, don't panic, and don't worry about me. Naruto, go back to your position."

Naruto nodded, and went back to the lead of the group. Soon, they passed the puddle, and Naruto glanced towards Hinata, who had activated her Byakugan. She tensed visibly- he took that as the cue that they were about to attack. All three genin whirled around (Sasuke a moment after the others, being behind them and therefor not privy to the activation of Hinata's Byakugan), only to see two dark-clothed shinobi wearing gas masks and with one large clawed gauntlet each wrap a chain of spiked links that was attached to their gauntlets around Kakashi several times over. Kakashi merely eye-smiled before being torn to shreds. All three genin had their doujutsu activated, and they saw that the man had used a Substitution jutsu beforehand, so that what appeared to be the- rather disgusting- remains of their sensei was really the remains of a log.

The two shinobi immediately charged at Sasuke, who merely smirked. He ducked under their dual gauntlet thrusts, and punched them each in the gut. As they were stunned, he pulled his arms back a little, and then thrust his palms upwards and into their chins, right behind their breath masks, snapping their heads back. He jumped backwards and immediately ran his hands through the seals for his Great Fireball jutsu. However, the two ninja recovered from the blows rather quickly and ran around the boy, hoping to catch the boy in the chain. He instead jumped over the chain and blew the fireball directly at the ninja to his left, who had one horn on his hitai-ite, his counterpart having two.

The one-horned shinobi jumped out of the way, but was immediately assaulted by Hinata, who struck him in the chest with a palm strike. He coughed, and then collapsed. Seeing the predicament he was in, the two-horned shinobi detached the chain from his gauntlet and charged towards Tazuna. However, Naruto appeared right in front of him, mid-kick. The kick landed on the side of the man's head, knocking him to the side. As he struggled to get back up, someone's foot stomped onto his head, pushing him down into the dirt.

Naruto smirked when he saw Kakashi standing on the shinobi. "Yo, Kaka-sensei! I see you decided to do _something_."

The jonin gave another of his 'eye-smiles'. "Well, I can't let my genin take all of the credit for taking down Kirigakure chunin, now can I?"

A minute later, and both shinobi were tied to a tree using rope. Kakashi sighed as he turned to his client. "Tazuna, I need you to talk."

They were interrupted by the one-horned chunin, who had awoken from Hinata's strike. "How did you know...?"

Kakashi shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "Come, now... a puddle? In the Land of Fire? On a sunny day like this? After it hasn't rained in days? Need I say more?"

As the shinobi looked down in shame, Tazuna looked confused. "Wait... why do _I_ need to talk?"

He received an 'eye-smile' from Kakashi. "Oh, I don't know... because you more than likely knew that shinobi were going to be after your head, and you lied to us about it."

Tazuna seemed taken aback. "W-what?"

Kakashi nodded. "That was the very reason I stood back and let my genin fight them... to figure out who they were after. It could've been any one of us here, for various reasons, but... it seems that they were here after _you_, Tazuna. If it were known that there'd be ninja after you, this mission would've been set as a B-rank. This was meant to be a _simple_ protection mission, meant to last until you completed the bridge. But now, we are operating outside of the mission parameters."

Naruto shrugged. "So? We accepted this mission. Whether or not he lied about how hard it is, I say we continue on."

The bridge-builder sighed. "Before you decide that... at least let me tell you who you're up against. He's a super-dangerous man, after all... I'm sure you've heard his name. Shipping magnate Gatoh."

The grey-haired shinobi's single eye widened. "Gatoh? Of the Gatoh Company? He's one of the world's wealthiest people!"

The blond boy next to him tilted his head. "Eh? I've never heard of this guy..."

Tazuna nodded. "Yep, that Gatoh... officially, he runs a shipping company. Unofficially, he runs a business of crime. Smuggling, drug-dealing... he uses shinobi and gangsters to take over the criminal underworld of entire countries, and even tries to take over the countries themselves. About a year ago he set his eyes on the Land of Waves... using his resources, he took over all business traffic in the country. Nothing goes in or out without his say-so."

The Uchiha snorted as he listened in on the conversation. "So, he wants you dead because of the bridge, eh?"

Tazuna gave a nod. "Yes... if that bridge is completed, he will lose his complete control over the Land of Waves. And he fears that..."

Hinata interrupted. "B-but... why did you lie, then?"

The old man took a swig of his sake bottle before responding. "You see... Gatoh's sucked the land dry. Nobody has any real money, not even the daimyo. A C-rank was all I could afford." He suddenly grinned, making Naruto cringe- the boy knew something was up. "....oh, but don't worry about me! Abandon the mission if you wish! I'll only, you know, DIE. Oh, sure, my ten-year old grandson will cry! But only for a few days! And my daughter will live a sad life, hating Konoha ninja for the rest of her days! But none of it will be your fault, just because you decided to abandon me!"

The jonin coughed into his hand. "Well, now, why don't we put it to a vote? All who want to continue with the mission, raise your hands." Naruto and Sasuke immediately raised theirs, and after a moment's hesitation Hinata raised hers as well. "Well, that's that, looks like we're continuing the mission."

Tazuna smirked to himself. _I win_.

--

"What?! You failed?!" A short man in a business suit and round sunglasses looked very annoyed as he stood in front of his tall, bald bodyguard. He was yelling at a shinobi with short, spiky brown hair, no shirt, white-and-brown camouflage pants, bandages around his mouth and neck, and a Kirigakure hitai-ite tied so that the plate was on the right side of his head, who was sitting on a couch. This much larger man reached behind his back and grabbed hold of a handle, and pulled on it, bringing out a sword as big as he was, which he pointed at the shorter man.

"Don't get your panties in a bunch, Gatoh... this time I'll go after them myself."

Gatoh growled. "You sure about that? It seems they have some very skilled ninja... and with the failure of the Demon Brothers, they'll be better prepared, Momochi."

'Momochi' clicked his tongue. "I'm not called the Demon of Kirigakure, Momochi Zabuza, for nothing."

--

Naruto gave a low whistle when he saw the bridge from the small boat that they were using to cross into the Land of Waves. "Now _that_'s a bridge."

Its builder smirked. "Heh, kid knows what's good for him."

It wasn't long until they reached a place they could dock through all of the fog that was surrounding them. After they left the boat, the boatman, who had been rowing before, revved the engined and disappeared into the fog. Tazuna started walking towards dry land. "Alright, you guys better keep protecting me!"

As they were walking along, Naruto noticed a chakra signature in the bushes. Having chakra at all meant that it was a ninja, who was trained to mix physical and spiritual energies. Without warning, Naruto threw a kunai at the figure in the bushes, and the shuriken multiplied into a great number of shuriken in mid-air. Immediately everyone was on their guard, but Naruto growled as he looked around. "Shit, he used a Substitution..."

Kakashi looked towards Hinata, who nodded and activated her Byakugan. "He's behind us, in the trees... he's got a huge sword in his hand..." Her eyes widened. "He's throwing it!"

The jonin whirled around, and saw the sword coming right at them- it was spinning horizontally instead of a vertical spin, which meant... "Everyone, get down!" Not one person failed to comply, and the sword whirled over their heads and rose back up into the air as it passed them, embedding itself in a tree. As they got back up, they saw a figure land on the sword's hilt. Kakashi grunted before speaking. "If it isn't Kirigakure's missing-nin Momochi Zabuza. It's a pleasure to meet one of the Seven Shinobi Swordsmen."

Naruto pulled out another shuriken, but Kakashi held him back. "Don't. He's on a whole other level from you guys... teamwork won't let you win this one, even with your abilities. It will be tough..." He reached for his hitai-ite and began pulling on it. "...unless I do this."

Zabuza seemed to raise his non-existent eyebrow. "Oh? I get to see the Sharingan already? Well, well, this _is_ an honor... Sharingan Kakashi."

The Uchiha boy smirked- though it wouldn't be _his_ Sharingan doing it, it was still points for the Sharingan that it was a Sharingan user taking down this Jonin and not Naruto's Rinnegan. He had a mental rivalry with Naruto's eyes- he compared and contrasted everything they could do that his Sharingan couldn't do and vice-versa. The same went with Hinata and her Byakugan- he liked to think that his Sharingan was superior to their eyes, or at least would be once it matured all the way.

Zabuza continued speaking. "The man who has copied 1,000 jutsu with his Sharingan eye... Copy Ninja Kakashi. It seems I have to get around you to kill the old man." All three genin got into formation around Tazuna, both Sasuke's Sharingan and Hinata's Byakugan activated. Zabuza grabbed his sword, and used a Body Flicker jutsu to disappear and reappear on the water not far away. He took a pose, with one hand in a half-seal in front of his chest and the other hand raised above his head in the other half of it.

Kakashi grunted, tensing himself for the coming battle. _That's a lot of chakra he's gathering..._

The swordsman spoke loud enough for everyone to hear as mist began enveloping him. "Ninpo: Hidden Mist Jutsu!" Very quickly, the mist began to be a little too thick to see through, and then it started spreading out- and Zabuza was gone.

Naruto snorted as he followed Zabuza's movements with his eyes. "Does he think he can scare us with something like this?"

Sasuke rolled his own eyes at the blond's comment. "Speak for yourself. I don't see him."

Their jonin turned to them. "Most likely he'll come after me first... Zabuza was renowned as a master of silent killing. You don't realize he's there until after you're dead."

The mist began getting much thicker, and Zabuza's voice drifted through it. "Eight choices... Liver, lungs, spine, clavical vein, neck vein, brain, kidneys, heart. Which one should I go after first?"

The client was now royally freaked out, but he managed to keep his cool for the moment. Even though they were trained to withstand scare tactics, that didn't stop the genin from being scared too. Kakashi's ki, which they could feel from here as he built up his chakra, wasn't helping things too well. Sasuke didn't know what he would be feeling if he wasn't so used to being exposed to it while Kakashi trained them- the man had been harsh in his training, and had often exposed them to his overwhelming energies as a way to make sure they wouldn't falter in the field. That didn't mean they still weren't affected- just not as much as they would be.

Naruto frowned. "Clones...?"

Kakashi's energy seemed to ebb, and the man turned around. "Don't you guys worry. I won't let my comrades die, even if it costs me my life."

Zabuza's voice came from the mist again. "We'll just see about that..."

Immediately, Hinata and Naruto turned around towards the center of their circle, but before they could even blink Kakashi had used a Body Flicker jutsu to stab Zabuza in the gut- the both of them were right in-between the genin and Tazuna. Naruto flicked a shuriken right past them... and into another Zabuza. Both Zabuzas collapsed into piles of water while Kakashi slacked his pose. "Well, that went well. Keep on the look out for more clones, would you?"

Hinata's eyes widened again as Zabuza disappeared from his hiding spot- and landed right behind her in a crouch. Without even thinking she elbowed him in the face, causing his head to snap back. Before Zabuza could even think about how she had done it, he could feel a kunai in front of his throat- it belonged to another Kakashi. "Don't move, Zabuza. I know this is the real you."

The Kakashi that had defeated the first Zabuza collapsed into a puddle of water on the ground. Zabuza closed his eyes. "I see... that Sharingan is very impressive. To be able to copy my Water Clones even in this mist... though I must wonder what special talents your students are hiding."

The Konoha Jonin snorted into his mask. "That's for me to know... and you to ponder in the next world."

However, before he could slit the man's throat, Hinata cried out, "Sensei, someone's in the bushes!" Kakashi turned, and he saw two senbon needles launch from the bushes and towards them. Kakashi retracted his hand from Zabuza, but Zabuza did not move- he let the needles pierce his neck, so that the ends of the needles were sticking out from both sides of his neck. The man promptly fell on his face, apparently dead. Kakashi kneeled down and checked for a pulse.

"......well, he certainly feels dead."

The mysterious "someone" emerged from the bushes, and Naruto looked at them- the very first thing that he noticed was that their chakra was split between green for wind chakra and blue for water chakra. After that, he noticed the person's appearance- a short and loose blue kimono that was tied with what appeared to be the world's biggest scarf. with a green turtleneck sweater/pants combo underneath that was tight at the top but was very wide at the bottom, the pant legs flapping in the breeze. On top of all that he wore a white mask with a red swirl marking along the mouth area, and two slits for eye holes. The mask had the Kirigakure symbol on the forehead area.

The figure spoke- their voice was pretty feminine, but it wasn't quite enough to be able to identify them as female. "I thank you for immobilizing him, I've been seeking the opportunity to kill him for a very long time. I hope you don't mind..."

Kakashi narrowed his eyes. "That mask... a Kirigakure Hunter-nin, right?"

The ninja was silent for a moment before speaking again. ".......impressive. You are correct."

Naruto raised an eyebrow as he poked Zabuza's corpse. "A Hunter-nin? ....wuzzat?"

The person was again silent for a moment before speaking. "....a Hunter-nin is a ninja whose duty it is to hunt down Missing-nin such as Zabuza."

Kakashi was silent while Naruto and the ninja spoke. _From his voice and height, he's probably not much older than Naruto... yet he's a Hunter-nin..._

The ninja used a variant of the Body Flicker jutsu, disappearing in a whirlwind and reappearing in another one right besides Zabuza, startling Hinata and Sasuke, who had deactivated their doujutsu. The boy picked up Zabuza's corpse and threw it over his shoulder, sword and all. "If you'll excuse me, I have to dispose of the corpse. Farewell." Another whirlwind, and he was gone.

Kakashi adjusted his hitai-ite so it was covering his left eye again. "Well, that was interesting. Why don't we get a move on to Tazuna's place, hm?"

Tazuna himself seemed to snap out of whatever shock he was in. "Hahaha! Super thank you, guys! You can relax a bit when we get to my place!"

--

**Kasek: **Eh.... sorry the genin didn't get to show off or anything. Kakashi told them to stay back during the Zabuza fight, and realistically if he tried anything they'd intercept it with less than flashy moves so that they don't accidentally hurt each other. I'll see if I can't get at least Naruto to show off at one point XP After all, if he's learning jutsu left and right, some of them have to be useful, right? Still, I think Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu is his current favorite. At least until he learns gravity jutsu XP

.........dammit, Naruto could've used his Shadow Clones to always keep an eye on Zabuza. Maybe I'll use it later XP It's hard to keep track of everything.


	6. Cancel Notice

**Kasek: **This is a notice of cancellation for Child of Prophecy. If you still want to read about a Rinnegan-wielding Naruto, I am starting a new story called "Eye of Samsara". I hope that this new story will be more of a success in my mind than this one was.

As a parting gift, here's how I wanted part of the Battle on the Bridge to go.

--

"Geez, Naruto... you need to learn how to defend yourself better."

Naruto was about to retort, but then he saw it- Sasuke's neck was impaled with several needles. The boy coughed up blood, and turned to face Naruto. "I used to hate you, you know... back at the Academy. But you've made an impression on me. Hinata, too though not as much..." He fell backwards, but Naruto caught him so the needles didn't get agitated. Sasuke's now natural eyes looked into Naruto's Rinnegan. "Naruto... with that Rinnegan, you are supposed to be the next savior of this world... so, to help my soul rest... can you tell Hinata... I'm sorry, for the bell test?"

Tears formed in Naruto's eyes. "I... I will..."

Sasuke smiled, and then, he was still. Naruto's breath caught in his throat at the sight of Sasuke's eyes closing for the last time. Haku stood up, though uneasily. "That boy... he-"

Naruto glared at him full-force- Haku gasped at the sight of the Rinnegan turning red, the pupil a narrow slit now. "Shut up. You killed him. He was my _friend_. He had his whole life ahead of him, he was going to avenge his clan, and then he was going to start a family. You took his dreams, his life from him..." Red chakra began swirling all around the boy, and he gently put Sasuke down, standing straight up. "...so at the very _least_ I am going to kill you. There are worse fates than just 'dying'... if you don't put up a good fight, you will get to see one for yourself."

Haku swallowed, and found it hard to stand in this boy's presence- what kind of monster had he unleashed upon himself?


End file.
